Steam-turbine.



M. LEBLANC.

STEAM TURBINE.

APPLICATION HLED FEB. 20. 1914.

1,141,968, Patented June 8, 1915.

w/nvzsasy UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MAURICE LEBLANC, 0F CBOISSY, FRANCE, ASSIGNOR TO SOCIETE ANONYME POUR LEXPLOITATION DES PBOGEDES WESTINGHOUSE LEIBLANC, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

STEAM-TURBINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J une 8, 1915.

Application filed. February 20, 1914. Serial No. 820,019.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, MAURICE LEBLANC, a citizen of the Republic of France, residing at Val sur Seine, Groissy, Seine-et-Oise, France, have invented a new and useful Improvement in or Relating to Steam-Turbines, of which the following is a specification:

With a turbine having but a. single wheel provided with a diffuser interposed between the chamber in which the wheel rotates, and the condenser, one can, by reason of the increase in vacuum produced in this chamber:

1. Utilize. under the best conditions the kinetic energy of the steam even when its velocity becomes greater than 1400 meters per second.

2. Carry the expansion to a very high degree so that the steam on arrival in the turbine may have undergone a partial con-' densation sufiicient in order that the small drops of water produced cannot evaporate entirely during the passage through the blades in spite of the magnitude of the in? terior losses of the turbine, and however high may be the pressure and the initial superheat of the steam. Under these conditions the fluid which passes through the turbine is always cold and the steel of which it is made does not tend to lose its temper. Now the thermal output of a turbine increases as the pressure and the initial superheat ofthe steam are raised. If it is desired to fully utilize the properties of such a turbine it should be supplied from a. flash boiler such as a Serpollet or Renard boiler capable of furnishing steam at a pressure of about .100 kilograms per square centimeter and at a temperature of between 500 and 600 degrees centi ade. These boilers cannot, however, be simply substituted for Ordinary boilers, in fact:

1. Long ranges of piping at very high pressure and temperature would be costly.

hey would form a radiator and the steam would rapidly lose its superheat.

ternal vaporization turbine which iiorms the subject of this invention and is characterized by 1. The combination in a single machine of the boiler and turbine as shown in the accompanymg drawing. The steam then will only have to pass between the boiler and the entrance of the nozzles through pipes of which the total length will be but a few decimeters. The pipes being of small section can easily be given the necessary strength and will be short enough to prevent steam from having time to cool while passing through them.

2. The non-employment of any cock or valve in the path of the steam between the boiler or the turbine. Owing to the almost instantaneous vaporization the speed may be regulated by controlling the supply of feed water to the boiler by means of the speed governor of the machine in such a way that the supply may be diminished very rapidly if the speed rises and vice-versa.

8. The use of a combustible gas such as town gas, poor gas (blast furnace gas) wa ter gas or any h drcrcarbon of the general formula G H urned with air supplied under a pressure of a few millimeters of water by a blower. Under these conditions the intensity of the combustion canbevaried very suddenly in such a way that it will always be proportional to the supply of feed water. The supply of combustible fuel and air is also conveniently regulated by the speed governor of the turbine.

The internal va ization turbine is formed b the combination in a single apparatus o the turbine, its boiler and of regulating devices for the supply of feed water and of air and combustible fluid to the burner. In a central station comprising several turbines each would have its own boiler and regulating apparatus as above set forth but all the burners would receive fuel and air distributed by the same pipes. larly, the feed water would be supplied to all the boilers under the necessary pressure by a single system of piping.

Figure 1 1s a more or less diagrammatic illustration of apparatus embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic fragmental cross-sectional View of a turbine which forms a detail of the present invention.

In the accompanying drawing A repre- Simt.

sents a flash boiler which can be of any suitable type. Feed water furnished by a system of pipesunder a pressure equal to that which the steam is to have enters at B, it passes first through a valve C, the opening of which is regulated in a manner hereinafter described and then enters the boiler at I. It leaves at G as steam and passes into the turbines H, then into the condenser I. The turbine. as illustrated includes a nozzle 3 with which the passage G communicates and which delivers motive fluid to a row of rotating blades 5 mounted on a wheel 7, which is located within a casin 4. The steam issuing from the blades 5 is received by a difl'user 6, which communicates with the inlet of the condenser. This condenser is preferably a surface condenser so that the same water can be used over and over again which is customary with a flash boiler. A circulating pump, an air pump and a pump for withdrawing the condensed water are provided and may be of any suitable kind.

The fuel enters at J. It passes through a regulating valve K then to a burner L. Air arrives by a channel M which is throttled more or less by a butterfly valve N and passes under the burner. The products of combustion escape to the atmosphere by the chimney O.

In the case of a turbine having a single wheel which always runs at a considerable angular velocity a very simple speed governor can be formed by mounting a small air compressor at the end of the shaft as shown at S. The air com ressed by this apparatus acts on a piston 'Fwhich it tends to raise against the pressure of a spring U.

The feed valve C, the regulating cock K and the butterfly valve N are controlled by toothed wheels mounted on their axles which engage with racks P, Q and R, the latter being mounted on the rod of the piston T. \Vhen the speed of the turbine increases the pressure exerted on the piston T overcomes the tension of the spring and the piston rises and reduces-the supply of water, of combustible fluid and air and vice-versa.

The apparatus above described is shown only by way of example and especially any kind of speed governor and va ve or regulatin valves may be employed.

I c aim as my invention:-

1. The combination of a steam turbine, a flash boiler heated by combustible fluid and air, automatic means for regulating the supply of feed water to the boiler, and automatic means for regulating the supply of combustible fluid and air for heatlng the boiler.

2. The combination of a steam turbine, a condenser, a difl'user inter osed between the chamber in which the tur Vine wheel rotates and the condenser, a flash boiler heated by combustible fluid and air, automatic means for regulating the supply of feed water to the boiler, and automatic means for regulating the supply of combustible fluid and air for heating the boiler,

3. The combination of a steam turbine having a single wheel, a flash boiler heated by combustible fluid and air, an unobstructed connection between said turbine and said boiler, automatic means for regulating the supply of feed water to the boiler, and automatic means for regulating the supply of combustible fluid and air for heating 'the boiler.

4. The combination of a single expansion steam turbine, a flash boiler heated by combustible fluid and air, a direct connection between said turbine and said boiler, automatic means for regulating the supply of feed water to the boiler, and means for regulating the supply of combustible fluid and air for heating the boiler in such a way that the supply thereof is proportional to the feed water supplied to the boiler.

5. The combination of a single expansion steam turbine, a flash boiler heated by combustible fluid and air, a speed governor for said turbine adapted to regulate the supply of feed water to the boiler and also to regulate the supply of combustible fluid and air for heating the boiler.

6. The combination of a single expansion steam turbine, a condenser, a difl'user interposed between the chamber in which the turbine wheel rotates and the condenser, a flash boiler heated by combustible fluid and air, a speed governor for said turbine adapted to regulate the supply of feed water to the boiler and also to regulate the supply of combustible fluid and air for heating the boiler.

7 A single expansion steam turbine, a condenser, a diffuser interposed between the chamber in which the turbine wheel rotates and the condenser, a flash boiler heated by combustible fluid and air supplied at a low pressure, automatic means for regulating the supply of feed water to the boiler, and automatic means for regulating the supply of combustible fluid and air so that it will be proportional to the Suppl of feed water.

8. The combination 0 a steam turbine having a single turbine wheel, a diffuser interposed between the chamber in which said wheel rotates and the condenser, a flash boiler heated by combustible fluid and air, a direct valveless connection between said turbine and said boiler, and a speed governor for the turbine adapted to re late both the supply of feed water to the oiler and the supply of combustible fluid and air for heating said boiler.

9. The combination of an internal vaporization single expansion steam turbine, a flash boiler heated by combustion fluid and air having a direct unobstructed connection with said turbine, a speed governor for the turbine adapted to regulate the supply of feed water to the boiler and also the supply of combustible fluid and air for heatin the boiler proportionally to the amount 0 feed water supplied to the boiler.

10. The combination of-a steam turbine having a single 'wheel, a condenser, a difi'user interposed between the chamber in which said wheel rotates and the condenser, a flash boiler heated by combustible fluid and air, a pipe unobstructed by any valve connecting said boiler with said turbine, means for supplying feed water to the boiler, means for supplying combustible fluid and air at a low pressure for heating the boiler, and a overnor for regulating both the supply of eed water and of combustible fluid and air in such a way that the supply of combustible MAURICE LEBLANC.

Witnesses:

HANSON C. Coxn, GABRIEL Bmmm.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,141,968, granted June 8, 1915, upon the application of Maurice Leblanc, of Croissy, France, for an improvement in S team-Turbines an error appears in the printed specificationmequiring correction as follows: Page 2, line 128, claim 9, for the word combustion read combustible; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Oflice.

Signed and sealed this 24th day of August, A. D., 1915.

[SEAL.] J. 'r. NEWTON,

Acting Uomm'iss'ioner of Patents. 1 

